Barclays PLC Increases Position in Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH)

Barclays PLC raised its position in Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) by 135.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,396 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,896 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Methanex were worth $927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MEOH. FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of Methanex by 14.7% in the first quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,618,947 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $354,536,000 after acquiring an additional 978,936 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Methanex by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,951,485 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $62,194,000 after acquiring an additional 19,735 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Methanex by 60.7% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,631,060 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $89,072,000 after acquiring an additional 616,146 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Methanex by 156.4% in the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,208,040 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $56,211,000 after acquiring an additional 736,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new position in shares of Methanex in the second quarter worth $39,344,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.00% of the company’s stock.

Methanex Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ MEOH opened at $44.61 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.49 and a beta of 1.55. Methanex Co. has a 52-week low of $35.46 and a 52-week high of $54.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $823.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $754.57 million. Methanex had a net margin of 4.80% and a return on equity of 7.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Methanex Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.185 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Methanex’s payout ratio is currently 29.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MEOH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Methanex from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, October 30th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Methanex from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 2nd. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Methanex from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 30th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Methanex in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Methanex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.75.

About Methanex

Methanex Corporation produces and supplies methanol in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and South America. The company also purchases methanol produced by others under methanol offtake contracts and on the spot market. In addition, it owns and leases storage and terminal facilities. The company owns and manages a fleet of approximately 30 ocean-going vessels.